


Ebert and Rings

by TheTravelerWrites



Series: Commissions [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Babies, Birth, Cat Person, Children, Exophilia, F/M, Fatherhood, Furry, Intersex, Kids, Mention of pregnancy, Multi, NSFW, Necromancy, Pregnancy, Sex, Sexual Content, Tabaxi, Terato, Tiefling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2019-10-07 03:52:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17358422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTravelerWrites/pseuds/TheTravelerWrites
Summary: Ebert and Rings, who have been traveling for six months to find their fortune, contemplate going back to their village and weighing whether they should or shouldn't return.Momolady, Hufflesmonsters, and Smut-Goblin have also written fics for these characters. Read theirs before this one:





	1. Chapter 1

Rings was panting and moaning, riding you hard and fast. Your hands and feet were tied to the bed, and you were struggling to keep yourself from exploding inside her. She could see the concentration on your face and snarled.

“If you cum before me, I swear I’m ripping out your jugular vein,” She growled at you.

“I believe you,” You grunted through your gritted teeth, the sweat beading on your brow and chest with the effort. You was long past the point of needing to release, but you knew the punishment if she didn’t get hers first.

She sped up and began to yowl like a… well… like a cat in heat, leaning down and biting your collarbone as she gushed down your cock and legs.

You couldn’t hold back anymore. You came so hard that you saw spots in your vision. You couldn’t keep your voice down, so Rings put both of her paws on your mouth to muffle the sound. She didn’t mind when you made noise, but she loved denying you, even if it was just the chance to be loud.

She kept nipping at your shoulder and collarbone, just to feel your softening member twitch inside her as you tried to catch your breath. Eventually, she rolled off if you and snugged to you side.

“Uh, Rings…?” You said. “The… uh… the restraints?”

“In a minute,” She said, purring, running a claw up and down the line of your abdomen.

You struggled a little against them, earning some rub burn for your effort. “Come on, please? I’m losing feeling in my fingers and toes.”

“Mmm… no.”

“Rings, for fuck’s sake,” You groused.

“Ugh! You’re no fun,” Rings said, reaching up to untie you.

“That’s not what you thought a minute ago,” You quipped.

“As far as you know,” Rings said sniffily. “Maybe I’m getting bored of you.”

“Please, as if anyone else would put up with you,” You scoffed.

“Reverence and a few others in the village seem to like me just fine,” She replied as she shucked off the retraints on your feet. You twisted your feet around to get feeling back in them. “Maybe if we get back, I’ll kick you to the curb and find someone not nearly so grouchy.”

“You do that,” You snorted derisively, though you were not so sated that you didn’t catch that word __if__ fall from her lips.

“Do you... want to go back?” Rings asked suddenly in a hesitant voice as she lay back down. You wrapped an arm around her fuzzy feline body and cuddled her close.

You and Rings had been traveling and taking well-paying odd jobs for the better part of six months. When not working, you both enjoyed taking virginities and entertaining more seasoned lovers in every town and waypoint along the road. Originally, the two of you had gone to get rich, get laid, and find some adventure, as Rings had said, but you wondered at her reluctance to go back. As far as you knew, she loved the village. You enjoyed the village as well; it was one of the places you’d ever truly felt at peace.

When Rings had announced she was leaving to seek her fortune, you’d been quick to volunteer to watch her back and use your magic to aid her, assuming you’d be returning in only a month or two. Only recently had it occurred to you that she may not have had any intention of returning at all, and all this coin collecting was for something else entirely.

“Rings, how long have you lived in the village?” Ebert asked, trailing his fingers up and down her spine.

“About five years,” She responded. “My sister and nephew and I came into town just as Reverence was appointed the new religious leader. She hasn’t changed much since then, but her kind don’t.”

“What about your parents? Where are they?”

Rings body tensed, and she pushed you away a little. “Stop. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay,” You said, nonplussed. “You know… I don’t see my family anymore. At all. They disowned me after what happened at the college.”

Rings looked up at you, her gold eyes impassive. It was a strange look; ordinarily she was very expressive and it was easy to read what was on her mind just by looking at her face. You didn’t know how to deal with her being less than the whirlwind of emotion she normally was.

“You don’t talk about the college,” Rings said. “I know that people are trying to kill you because of what you did, but I don’t know what it is you did, so I don’t know if they’re justified in wanting you dead.”

“Ah, that’s one of the things I love about you, Rings. Always so blunt.” Ebert took a deep breath and stared up at the ceiling of the room they’d been renting for over a week. “It may not shock you to learn that I’m considered… odd. Even by sorcerer standards.”

“No. Really?” Rings said sarcastically.

You popped her bottom and said, “Do you want a story or not?”

She nodded, a little of the normal wicked glimmer returning to her eyes.

“When I was a boy at the school, I wasn’t well liked. There were a few people who talked to me, but they pitied me more than anything. It didn’t help that I was excelling were others failed, so there was a lot of resentment all around.

“One of the more attractive boys at the school was the only one I thought actually liked me. He flirted with me between classes and slipped notes onto my desk. He was the first person who ever kissed me. I wouldn’t figure out until later that it was just because he wanted something from me.”

“Sex?” Rings asked.

You snorted. “No, that’s what _ _you__ would want.” You sighed. “What he wanted was much more… dangerous.”

“Dangerous, how?”

“There was a room where books were kept in the college--”

“You mean a library?” She asked sardonically. You gave her a harder smack, and she squealed.

“No, will you let me finish? It was a room that contain books that no one should read. Books that, by all rights, should be destroyed were it not for the protective spells that had been placed on them. Well, this one boy said that if I could get into the room and bring him something from inside it, that he would sleep with me.”

“I knew sex was involved,” Rings said smugly, earning her another sharp smack.

“Getting into the room wasn’t the problem. The deans of the college seemed to think that the fear of expulsion would be enough to keep us from trying to break in, and for the most part, they were right. I was always more than happy to cause a little mischief, but I wasn’t as cautious back then as I am now.

Rings’ tail swung behind her, catching your vision, and you focused on it as you remembered.

“After entering in the dead of night, I saw rows and rows of books, and they were all on one subject: necromancy.”

“So the kid wanted to be a necromancer, like you?”

“No, no, he was just a dumb kid who wanted something he thought would make him more powerful, but he didn’t want to get into trouble, so he sent me to do the dirty work. None of us knew what the books in the forbidden room were about; all we knew is we weren’t allowed in there.

“But, around that time at the school, we had started working on banishing the undead. None of us were comprehending the lessons, not even me. It didn’t make any sense; it was all so convoluted and backwards. But when I opened one of the books and read a little bit, instantly it clicked. The lesson didn’t make sense because they were teaching it wrong. To banish something, you have to understand how it works. You have to know how to summon something before learning how to banish it properly. When looked at from that perspective, it all fell into place. You have to know how to raise the dead in order to lay them back to rest.”

“So what did you do?”

“Well, I didn’t get laid, if that’s what you want to know. I came back empty handed and told the boy that I couldn’t get into the room, and he had some pretty harsh things to say. Any other day it might have hurt, but I was too buzzed from my discovery to care. I had made notes while I was in there, which I kept hidden, but I went to the deans with my assertions. I thought they’d be interested in hearing what I had to say.”

“Were they?”

You snorted again. “Not in the slightest. They forbade me from experimenting or ever talking about it again. But I was convinced, absolutely convinced, that if I could just show them there was an easier way, a better way, then they’d listen.” You scrubbed your face with your hand and ran it through your mussed up hair. “Gods, was I stupid as a kid.”

“So?” Rings pressed.

“So,” You continued. “I had to wait for an opportunity. People tend to notice when graves were dug up, and I really wanted to practice on a fresh corpse. Less smell, you know. As my luck would have it, but not anyone else’s luck for sure, a student died in a different experiment soon after. Her body was cleaned and put into a chilled room to await collection by her family. They just left her there; no guards, no enchantments on the door. She was the perfect subject. Hell, it’s not like she’d have felt it.”

“You didn’t cause the botched experiment, did you?” She asked in an accusatory tone.

“Gods, no! Even _ _I’m__  not that much of an asshole.” You snugged her in closer and inhaled the scent of her fur. “No, it was all just coincidence. Later that night, after everyone had gone to sleep, I snuck into the parlor where she was being kept. I made all the necessary potions, said all the necessary words, took all the necessary steps… and it worked. She sat right up on the table, looking at me with that feral light in her eyes that left no doubt at all that she was undead.”

“Whoa.”

“Yeah,” You breathed. “It was incredible. I studied her, and learned that the magic of raising her had replaced the blood in her body. Her heart was beating, but instead of life blood, it pushed pure magic through her veins. It electrified her nervous system, it recharged her musculature, it slowed the decomposition process. Unfortunately the brain decays quickly, so she wasn’t able to retain speech, but she did have basic motor function and could follow complicated sets of instructions. She even responded to her own name.

“And then, when I was done observing, I pulled the magic back out of her, like drawing venom from a snake bite. After I finished, I was absolutely certain there was no residual magic left and no way she could reanimate. I’d done it. I’d returned the dead to rest, and it was __so easy__.”

She stared at you, wide-eyed. “What did you do then?”

“I took my findings to the deans, certain I had proved my case, certain that they had to listen now, certain that evidence this strong couldn’t be ignored. I was enthusiastic, naive, and an idiot.” You lifted your bad leg and rubbed it. “They arrested me. I hadn’t just broken the law, as necromancy was illegal, but I had defiled the corpse of a relative of the current governing sovereign. She was technically royalty. She just hadn’t told anyone because she didn’t want special treatment.”

“Oh, fuck,” Rings breathed in horror.

“They put me in a locked room with guards.” You huffed a mirthless laugh. “The one time they thought to have guards. I was to be executed the following morning. There was a window in my cell, but I was fifteen stories up. My only chance was to jump.” You patted your leg. “The trees below slowed my descent, but my leg was badly broken in several places when I landed. Luckily they didn’t know I had escaped until dawn, and by then I had dragged my sorry ass to a nearby town, begging for help. Once they patched me up enough to move, I ran. I ran for years, never staying in any place too long. It wasn’t until I found that cottage at the edge of the village, abandoned and derelict, that I thought I’d found a place to hide away forever.”

“That didn’t work out so well, did it?” Rings asked as she rolled onto her stomach, her tail swinging behind her playfully.

“It did, though,” You mused. “After I let myself accept being there, it’s the safest I’d felt in decades.” You looked down at her seriously. “I want to go back. I want to see my son.”

The first time Reverence laid with Ebert, she did so with the intent of getting pregnant, and she had succeeded. Three months before Rings had made the announcement she was leaving, Ebert’s son had been born. He came a few weeks early and was very weak, but Reverence doted on him. Everyone did. He was the town’s baby.

Reverence had made it clear to Ebert that she would raise the boy on her own, and he was free to be as involved or uninvolved as he pleased. Ebert had been confident when he left with Rings that his son would be well taken care of, but he was eager to get back and see how he’d grown.

Mentioning his son made Rings’ face fall.

“You don’t like that I have a son?” He asked her.

She scoffed at him. “It’s not that, stupid,” She said. “I’ve been around babies. The village is overrun with the mongrels.”

“Were you jealous then? Did you want to have my baby?” Ebert asked.

“ _ _Phht__ , hell no. Reverence can pop out as many of your brats as she likes, I’m not giving up fighting for a crotch goblin that only eats and shits for the first five years of its life.”

“Fair enough,” Ebert conceded. “So what’s the problem?

“It’s just…” She sighed. She hated talking about emotions and her past. She always got surly when she did. “I was… like him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Small. Sick. Weak.” She said grouchily. “I was a runt.”

“Why does that bother you? You’re not any of those things now.”

“Well…you know how cats tend to smother babies they think won’t survive?”

“Yeah, but that’s cats.”

“Well, turns out, tabaxi parents have a similar practice,” She said with a deep grimace.

Your head rocked back. “You’re not serious.”

She nodded unhappily. “My sister heard them talking about it, I guess. She grabbed me and ran. We hopped from place to place for years, like you did. We stopped once long enough for my sister to get knocked up, but then we had to leave that place because the kid’s dad is a raging asshole. When we came to the village, it was the first place we felt like we could actually settle.”

“So what’s bothering you?”

“When your kid was born… everyone just… loved him. Right away, automatically. Maybe it’s because he’s Reverence’s kid, too, but everyone thinks the sun shines out of his ass, despite him being a runt. I just think…” She took a big breath and blew it out explosively. “Why couldn’t that have been me?”

You reached down and pulled her into your embrace. “Rings.”

She looked up at you. She wasn’t a crier; it just wasn’t something she did. But she looked more somber than you’d ever seen her.

“You realize that all those people who love him, they love you, too, right?” You told her. “They have since you arrived. They love you and your sister and your nephew. You’re their family. They miss you.”

“You can’t know that.”

“Yes, I can.”

“How?”

“Because I’d miss you.”

She rolled over, staring at the ceiling. “You really mean that, don’t you?”

You, in turn, rolled on top of her, nestling between her legs. “Why would you think I don’t?”

She sighed and kissed you, biting your lower lip. She never did anything gently.

“You really want to go back?” She asked.

“Yes,” You replied, licking the split she’d bitten into your lip. “And I think you do, too.”

She growled and rolled her eyes. “I guess it’d be nice to see my sis again. And I do miss Reverence.”

“Tomorrow?” You asked.

“Yeah, tomorrow,” She agreed. “Go to sleep, gimp.”

You smiled in triumph and rolled over so that she was on your stomach and pulled the blanket over the two of you. With her warm weight on your body, you fell asleep.


	2. Father and Son

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ebert and Rings return to the village, and while Rings and Reverence get re-acquainted with each other, Ebert spends time with his infant son.

The trip back to the village had taken more than two weeks, and they decided to hire a carriage for the last couple of days to spare Ebert’s leg, though Rings heckled him about it. They sat together as it clattered along the road leading back to the village. Buttons sat in Ebert’s lap, digging her claw painfully into his leg due to the jostling of the carriage down the road.

“Do you think Reverence will be angry that we’ve been gone so long?” Ebert asked, trying to calm his cat enough that she would retract her claws from his thigh.

Rings was sitting upside down with her feet on the ceiling and her hair brushing the floor. Had she been wearing a skirt, everyone outside could have seen her lady bits in all their glory, not that she would have cared.

“Hard to say,” She said thoughtfully while carving a rude word into the floorboards of the carriage with her claw. “Reverence is kind of easy-breezy about these sorts of things ordinarily, but you did promised her you’d be back in a month. She does expect people to keep their promises.”

Ebert bristled. “I was only gone for so long because you kept sidetracking us! I’d have been back months ago if it were up to me!”

She smiled devilishly. “You’re telling me you didn’t enjoy your time away?”

“That’s not what I’m saying, you shifty minx,” Ebert retorted. “It’s just that… I like the village. I’ve been wanting to go back for a while. I don’t want Reverence to think that _I_ didn’t want to come back just because _you_ didn’t.”

She flipped over and sat properly in the seat, fidgeting with her tail. “You’re not going to tell her, are you? That I didn’t want to come back?”

You sighed. If Reverence was annoyed at your late return, it would be easy to use Rings as an excuse, especially since it _was_ actually her fault. But… Reverence was the only person who’s opinion truly mattered to Rings. As little as you liked the idea of being on Reverence’s bad side, you liked even less the thought of driving a wedge between the two women. They did love each other, after all.

“No, of course not, love,” You said, and Rings purred, dislodging a hissing Buttons and sitting in your lap.

“You’re so good to me,” She said, reaching down into your trousers. “Let me be good to you for a little while.”

Ebert smiled, and as she lowered herself down, pulling at the buckle of his pants, his head hit the back of the carriage and he closed his eyes, giving over to expert ministrations.

A few hours later, during which Rings had sucked Ebert into a semi-coma, he cracked an eye when she rocked the carriage by shooting to the window and looking out. Familiar houses floated by, and Ebert realized he was back. He was home.

It was late in the evening, with the sun just setting beyond the trees, and Ebert looked out alongside Rings. He banged on the roof of the carriage and it stopped. The pair of them then got out, grabbed their bags from the hold in the back, headed straight for Reverence’s house. Buttons escorted herself.

As if expecting you, she was standing there on her front steps; tall, proud, and frowning. She wore a gold gown that dipped past her bust to her navel, with slits up both of her legs. The place where her eyes would have ordinarily been was covered with a cloth, but there were dozens of eyes staring back at them from her large antlers, all of them narrowed irksomely.

“And what time do you call this?” She asked shrewdly.

“Forgive me, Reverence,” Ebert replied, watching Rings tense, worried that Ebert would sacrifice her to spare his own standing with the temple priestess. “We… We got rather sidetracked at several points during the journey. But you’ll be happy to know that we have been spreading your message of open love between adults the entire time we were gone.”

Reverence’s face softened, and the tension eased from her shoulders. Rings also relaxed.

“How wonderful,” She said, swaying side to side as though rocking herself. Only then did Ebert notice the bundle cradled in her right arm, wrapped in one of Ebert’s old cloaks that he had repurposed into a blanket. It had been the first gift Ebert had given his son. His heart thudded against his ribcage as though something was kicking him from the inside.

Ebert couldn’t see the child clearly, just his forehead and one little hand that stuck out from the wrappings. The boy was still small and thin, but seemed to be thriving, sleeping peacefully in his mother’s arms.

“That’s… Is that Ethrik?” Ebert said softly.

“Aye,” Said Reverence, looking down at their son… well.. _reverently_. “My sweet, little reminder of the day you first arrived here. He’s still a wee little thing yet, but he’ll grow up strong. All of my children do.” She swept her free arm wide and stepped out of her cottage’s doorway. “Come in, please.”

Ebert and Rings followed Reverence inside her dwelling, which they often shared together, though Ebert still maintained his shack out in the woods. As much as he loved the village and it’s people, sometimes he still needed silence and time to himself without other people around, for his own sanity’s sake.

Buttons stalked under the bed and made herself comfortable there, so that only her gold eyes were visible in the gloom of the shadow.

“I was beginning to worry,” Reverence said. “You insisted you’d only be gone a month or two. Ethrik missed you, you know.”

Ebert highly doubted that. Babies of Ethrik’s age didn’t have the memory retention to actually miss people. He was absolutely certain the boy had no recollection of Ebert at all. Even still, Ebert said, “I know, I’m sorry. Is there something I can do to make it up to the both of you?”

“Here,” Reverence said, handing Ethrik to Ebert. “You can take him for the night. Goodness knows I could use a break.” She curled her arm around Rings back and led her toward the door, likely heading straight to the temple. There was a coy smile on her face as she looked down at the feline woman, who smiled back while biting her lip seductively. “I’ve been neglecting my duties.”

“But,” Ebert said, dropping his cane and cradling his son a little awkwardly. “I don’t know anything about taking care of babies. What if he gets hungry? Won’t you need to feed him?”

Reverence turned back to Ebert and chuckled. “He can’t stomach milk, not even mine. There’s a jar of dark honey in the pantry over there,” she said, pointing. She reached into a pocket and pulled out a closed metal cup with a spout and a corked hole. “We found that it works well to sustain him. Two tablespoons dissolved in half a pint of water whenever he’s hungry. There’s also a jar or two of pear sauce and some berries for his dinner. That’s more than enough for him at this age.”

Then she turned, Rings on her arm, and exited the house.

Ebert looked down at his sleeping son for a moment. He hadn’t really spent much time with him before now, especially on his own. Ethrik was always in the hands of others. Ebert had only interacted with him for a few minutes at a time before moving on to other things, trusting that Ethrik’s attention was well occupied. This was the first opportunity he’d had to actually… bond with the boy.

Gingerly hobbling to the bed, he laid Ethrik down in the middle of it and carefully arranged his blankets so that he wasn’t stifled. Ebert marveled at how truly small he was, even at eight months.

“Hi again,” Ebert said softly as he sat on the bed and arranged his legs semi-comfortably. “Sorry I’ve been gone so long. I didn’t expect to be.”

Ethrik slept on. Ebert sat there, bending to remove his leg brace without moving the baby around too much, feeling strangely at ease as watched the little boy breathe in and out rhythmically. It was oddly soothing.

“You know, I actually never expected you to exist. Not you specifically, I mean. I just never thought I’d ever have a child. When I was younger, I repulsed by the idea, and now that I’m older… well… I thought the time for such things had passed me by. But, I guess when you meet a person like your mother, things just tend to happen, eh? She does tend to get her way. It doesn’t help that I’m a pushover for beautiful women.”

Ethrik snuffled in his sleep as if in agreement, and Ebert sniffed a laugh through his nose, examining his son. He looked startlingly like Reverence. His skin was lavender in color and he had little nubs on his forehead that you knew would grow into great big antlers like a moose, but unlike his mother, his eyes, all four of them, were on his face rather than implanted in the antlers. His hair was dark, his feet were cloven hooves, and he had a little tail poking out of the blankets.

“You look like her,” Ebert mused. “But I’ll bet anything you’re like me in temperament. If that’s the case, I’m sorry, sport. I’m not a likeable guy. Well, except for here, in this place. These people seem to like me just fine.”

Ebert looked out of the window. It was still bright enough that he could see the bustling of the town as it finished it’s day business. People went to the tavern, or ducked into their own homes, and more than a few headed to the temple.

“Yeah,” He mused. “This place may seem odd to other people, but for odd people, it’s the perfect place to be. And I’m nothing if not odd. So’s you’re mom, honestly. And your… well, I guess she’s technically your step-mom, though she’d hate the idea, so don’t tell her I called her that.” He said in a conspiratorial whisper.

Just then, Ethrik woke up. He blinked up at Ebert curiously, each of his four eyes a different color. Then began to cry, softly at first, but growing in volume and intensity. Ebert floundered, trying to figure out how to calm him.

“Oh! Oh, just a sec, just a sec!” Ebert said, jumping as best he could from the bed and taking the metal cup to the water basin and uncorking it. Ebert unscrewed the honey jar and spooned two dollops into the opening, as instructed, and then filled it with water, re-stoppering it and shaking it vigorously to dissolve the honey.

Ebert staggered back to the bed, where Ethrik was still wailing, and gave him the cup, which he was able to hold on his own. Ethrik silenced immediately and drank enthusiastically.

“Yeah, I get grouchy when I’m hungry, too,” Ebert said fondly. “Although, you should see Rings when she’s hungry. She’s a monster.” Ebert patted Ethrik’s stomach. “I do love her, you know. Rings. As cantankerous and sharp-tongued and off-putting as she can be, and as much as she tries to push people away, I love her. I love your mom, too. I love them both more that I ever thought I was capable. And… I love you, too, little one.”

Ethrik watched you with his bright, strange eyes, making little noises as he drank.

“I don’t want to be like my dad was with me, distant and cold. I want to be better for you. My dad wasn’t exactly happy that I was bookish and wanted to study magic. He had intended for me to take over his merchant business. But he had other sons for that. I couldn’t understand why it was so important for me to follow in his footsteps. He wanted this huge trading empire and insisted all his kids were part of it. Well, I wasn’t having it. The day I left for the mage school was the day he disowned me, and honestly, I was more than happy about that.”

Ethrik threw the empty cup to the floor with a clatter and waved his arms at Ebert, who picked him up and lay him on his shoulder, patting his back. Ebert had seen this done before, but wasn’t sure he was doing it right.

“You can be whatever you like, Ethrik,” Ebert said as he bounced him a little. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. Your dad says so, and you can tell people that, too.”

A burp, a fart, and an accompanying giggle was Ethrik’s response.

Ebert snorted. “Yeah, you definitely take after me,” He stood again with Ethrik on his shoulder, a little worried that he might fall on his unsteady leg, but made his way slowly and delicately to the pantry again.

“Ooh, blueberries,” Ebert said to Ethrik. “Would you like some blueberries, buddy? Can you even eat these?” He asked, looking at the little boy’s face. Ethrik laughed, revealing three little teeth in his mouth. “Huh. Maybe so.”

Back on the bed, Ebert sat Ethrik upright, and he was mostly steady. The baby laughed and waved his hands up and down, eager for the berries but not quite dexterous enough to grab them.

“Here,” Ebert said, taking one and crushing it between his fingers before feeding it to Ethrik. “Just to be safe.”

Buttons jumped up from under the bed then, sniffing Ethrik’s head and the blueberries before snatching one and rolling on his side next to the baby, munching and batting the air.

Ethrik apparently greatly enjoyed Buttons’ company while he ate, and laughed every time she swiped at Ebert’s hand when he offer Ethrik crushed blueberry after crushed blueberry. Graciously, she only stole one or two.

The pair of them seemed to become fast friends. Once the berries were gone, Ethrik fell forward and maneuvered around to put a fat, starfish hand on Buttons’ belly. Ebert was about to pull the boy away, but Buttons’ seemed not to care. Ebert huffed a little in jealousy; Buttons’ would tear his hand off if he tried that.

Ethrik seemed to be sleepy after eating, and laid down on his side next to Buttons. The cat licked Ethrik’s head a little and then settled next to him, purring and snuggling the little boy closely.

Ebert couldn’t help smile at the sight. Moving carefully to keep from waking the two, he went to his satchel and pulled out his sketchbook, drawing the moment, preserving it to be looked at later in dark times. Ebert sighed. There were always dark times.

He shook himself mentally. Now was not one of those times. _Be here in this moment_ , he told himself. _Be here with your son. Keep your promise._

He drew several sketches, smiling softly. When he was done, he put the pages aside and carefully picked up his sleeping child, laying back on the pillows with Ethrik on his chest, and closed his eyes. Buttons stretched and got up, only to position herself over Ebert’s feet and lie on them upside down.

The warm weight and steady rhythm of his breathing was comforting, as was the feeling of Buttons’ purring through his toes and up his legs, and Ebert found himself drifting, clutching his son tightly.

“Isn’t that precious?” Ebert heard through the fog of sleep. He snorted awake to find Rings and Reverence standing over him, looking tired but very pleased. Ebert looked out of the windows and saw that it was still dark out.

“I expected you two to be at it until dawn,” Ebert said groggily, rubbing his eyes with one hand while keeping the other firmly on Ethrik, who was still asleep. “Losing your touch, Rings?”

Rings growled at you, her hackles raised.

“I’m afraid I became rather tired,” Reverence sighed. “The baby does take up a lot of my energy these days. We decided to come back here and rest and go back fresh in the morning. If you’re not opposed to taking care of the little one again.”

“Not at all,” Ebert said, looking down at Ethrik. “I think we’re getting along great, actually.”

Rings went to his left side while Reverence lay on the right. The bed was large enough to accommodate all three of them, plus the baby and Buttons. Reverence pulled the sheets over them all, put her hand over Eberts on the baby, while Rings turned her back and put her butt up against Ebert’s hip. Then they lay back and slept.

The next morning at dawn, they woke when Ethrik shrieked with laughter as Buttons nibbled at his hooves. Rings and Reverence headed back to the temple after a breakfast of bread and cheese, and the pear sauce for Ethrik.

Ebert decided to go out with the baby in his carrying basket and reacquaint himself with the town. He greeted friends and neighbors, bought Rings a new whetstone and new clippers for Reverence’s hooves. One of the vendors gave Ethrik a wooden rattle with dried beans inside for free. He was delighted with it, and swung it around for the rest of the morning.

Just as Ebert was debating heading back to Reverence’s house for a nap, he saw Spring of the Valley, Ring’s sister, coming up quickly.

“Spring!” He said, raising his hand in greeting. “Hello again! We’ve finally come home.”

“Yes, that’s wonderful,” She said, smiling, though she seemed on edge. Her normally chubby face was pulled tight in an anxious smile. “You wouldn’t happen to know where my sister is, would you?”

“She’s in the temple with Reverence,” Ebert said. “They have a lot of time to make up for.”

Her face fell. “Fuck. She could be in there for hours.”

“Is something wrong?” Ebert asked. “I can go get her, if you like. She won’t be pleased, but if it’s serious, I can get her for you.”

“Would you mind? There’s a… problem…” Spring said, twisting her tail in much the same way as her younger sister.

“Would you mind taking Ethrik for me?” Ebert asked. Spring took the basket with the little boy, still swinging his rattle around and giggling, and nodded. Ebert thanked her and headed toward the temple.

He didn’t go inside, instead telling one of the priests holding vigil outside that Rings was urgently needed by her sister.

As expected, Rings came out incensed, ruffled and half dressed.

“What could be so important that you’d interrupt worship?” Rings asked angrily.

“Your sister needs you,” Ebert said.

“For what?” She asked, her arms folded.

“Rings,” A voice said from behind Ebert. Springs was standing behind Ebert with Ethrik and her own son. Behind her stood two other Tabaxi people, a male and female, with similar coloring to Rings, though they were obviously older.

“It’s good to see you again, Rings,” The male said, though his face didn’t reflect the words he spoke.

Rings drew herself up to her full height, which wasn’t exactly impressive. She puffed up, flexing her muscles, which were actually pretty impressive, and scowled.

“Father,” She said. “Mother.” She nodded at the female, who didn’t acknowledge her gesture. “What are you doing here?”


	3. A Tabaxi Family Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Rings' parents show up at the village, tempers run high as they try to convince her sister, Spring, and her son to go back home with them and leaving Rings behind.

Reverence followed Rings out of the temple, looking decidedly more put-together than Rings had when she stepped out, and said, “Ah, new guests! Are they here for worship?”

“Absolutely not!” Rings shouted. “In fact, I think it’s best if they left.”

Spring shifted from foot to foot anxiously, and her young son, Candle in the Dark, was clutching her skirt and watching everything take place with wide, confused eyes, his tail twitching behind him.

“Now, now,” Reverence said. “Let us not be unwelcoming. I assume you know these gentle people?”

“They’re my parents,” Rings said flatly.

“...ah,” Reverence said, her face suddenly more wooden. Ebert had no doubt Reverence knew all about Rings’ parents, though she was a far better diplomat than Rings. “Well, then. It is almost lunchtime. We don’t we all sit down to a meal and talk a little.”

“I’ll pass,” Rings said, folding her arms.

“ _Rings_ ,” Reverence said. It was the first time Ebert had ever heard even a slight edge in Reverence’s voice, and it had an effect.

“Fine,” She said, stalking back to Reverence’s house, pulling up the strap of her smallclothes. I was unsure if I should follow her or leave her alone. It was hard to tell sometimes.

“Allow me to introduce myself,” Reverence said, putting a many fingered hand to her chest. “I am Reverence, the spiritual leader of our little village. And may I ask your names?”

“I am Snow of the Mountain,” The male said, then gestured to his wife. “This is Lake of Smoke. You may call us Snow and Smoke for short.”

“Well, ” Reverence said, taking Ethrik from Spring and motioning toward her house, where Rings had disappeared. “Won’t you join us for lunch? Spring, you and Candle are welcome, too, of course.”

“Thank you,” Snow said. “We’d be happy to.”

The five of them started forward, but I reached for Spring’s arm.

“Would it be inappropriate for me to be there?” I asked.

Spring’s face was grim. “No. In fact, I think it’s important for you to be there. Rings is going to need you. This is going to be torture for her.”

I nodded understanding and followed her to Reverence’s house.

Inside, Reverence, Spring, and Candle began laying out bread and cheese and cured meats for lunch. Ethrik was in his basket nearby, cooing and waving his little hands around. Snow and Smoke was sitting at the table, sipping at the glasses of wine that Spring had poured for them with an air of awkwardness.

It was good we got inside when we did, because the heavens opened up and let loose a deluge that threatened to wash the house away. Well, if that wasn’t a reflection on the current mood, I didn’t know what was.

Reverence saw me enter the house, though I had not been explicitly invited, but nodded acknowledgement. Rings was sitting at the table across from her parents, now fully dressed, arms and legs crossed with the leg on top bouncing in agitation, scowling at her parents.

Once lunch was set out, Spring sent Candle to sit next to Ethrik and play with him. Spring was sure the conversation was going to get… heated, and didn’t want Candle caught in the middle.

I took a seat next to Rings, who ignored me, and Spring took a seat on her other side. The table was round, so Reverence placed herself between me and Snow. We created a ring of support around Rings that was broken only by the surprise guests. Buttons was under the table, oblivious to the tension in the room.

“So,” Reverence began, ever the diplomat. “What brings you here, might I ask?”

“We have come to see our grandson and his mother,” Snow said.

“And Rings as well, I assume?” Reverence said pointedly.

Snow coughed delicately. “Yes, of course.”

“You don’t have to lie,” Rings said. “Everyone at this table knows you couldn’t give a shit about me.”

“That’s not true, darling,” Smoke said in what I assumed was a motherly tone, but it just sounded incredibly insincere. “And mind your language around the children, won’t you?”

“If you ‘darling’ me again, I swear--” Rings began, but I grabbed her hand and pulled her in close so that I could whisper into her ear.

“Don’t rise to the bait, Rings,” I said quietly. “They want a reason to dismiss you. They want vindication. Don’t give them the satisfaction.”

Rings frowned, but nodded.

Smoke looked between Rings and me, a disapproving grimace on her face. "So… I assume this… man is your mate?"

"He's not my mate!"

"But.... you're together, aren’t you?"

"I'm 'together' with everyone! He's just one of the ones I like best!"

“Aww,” I said in an undertone.

“Shut up, idiot,” Rings retorted. I snorted.

“What does that mean?” Snow asked scornfully. “Are you some kind of whore?”

Rings was about to jump to her feet when both Spring and I grabbed her to keep her in her seat.

Reverence cleared her throat meaningfully. “The people of this village revere and give tribute to the goddess Fysy, matron of peace, fertility, and to put it bluntly, sex. Therefore, her worshipers practice free love. That is to say, our ways of worship are not limited by the confines of marriage or contracts. Anyone may love who they wish, whenever they wish.”

Both Snow and Smoke had looks of disgust on their faces. “So your people just… fornicate with anyone? Out in the open, where children could see? Is nothing sacred to you people?”

Rings looked like she might spontaneously combust, but Reverence kept her composure. No doubt she had had this conversation several times.

“The act itself is certainly sacred, but it’s not done with carelessness or disregard for the innocent and impressionable. All acts of worship are done in the temple, from which children are strictly barred. The nature of our rituals does not mean we are irresponsible with them.”

The two older tabaxis stared at each other, both still had mildly affronted expressions. “And you, Spring?” Smoke asked, looking at her with distaste. “You participate in this… worship, such as it is?”

“No,” She said. “I have a man whose company I enjoy, and I give myself to him and him alone, but he is a practitioner of Fysy’s rituals, and I’m perfectly fine with it.”

“Well,” Snow said with his arms crossed. “At least you’re not throwing your body to anyone who’ll have you.”

Rings growled. I gripped her knee under the table.

“Listen,” I said. “I know this is probably not my place, but this town’s religious practices are not what brought you here.”

“That is true,” Snow replied, turning to Spring. “Daughter, we’d like you and your son to return home with us.”

“And what about Rings?” Ebert said.

Snow and Smoke shared a look between them. “Rings is free to do as she wishes.”

“Fine by me,” Rings said, leaning back in her seat and shoving a piece of bread in her mouth. “I don’t want to go back with you two anyway.”

“And does Spring not have a say?” Reverence asked neutrally.

Spring had been quiet, unsure of what to say, but said said, “We’ve been here for five years, the longest we’ve lived anywhere. Candle, Rings, and I have finally made a home somewhere. I have no intentions to leave it. I’m sorry.”

Smoke shook her head. “No, Spring, you don’t understand. We’re retiring. We need someone to take over the family trade. You’d be inheriting a flourishing business and a decent amount of wealth.”

“You don’t want her to take over, you want free labor,” Rings said dismissively. “They don’t need to work in some stuffy shop to make you two even more rich. Besides, she doesn’t need your money. I’m rich. People seek me out because of my resourcefulness and tenacity. _I_ don’t give up on things because they’re inconvenient.”

She stared her parents in the eye when she said this. At least they had the decency to look uncomfortable.

“And since I don’t really need much to be content, I send all my earnings back to Spring,” Rings continued. “I’ve made enough from fetch jobs and guarding caravans that Spring and Candle will never have to work a single day for the rest of their lives. ”

“It’s true, Mama,” Spring said. “Rings’ income is more than enough to support us indefinitely. Inheriting your business doesn’t appeal to me.”

Snow sputtered. “Well… what about Candle? He might feel differently.”

“Candle is four years old, Father. He’s not old enough to make that decision, and I’m not about to make it for him,” Spring said firmly.

“Look,” Smoke said, rubbing her face. “It’s not just about the business. We love you. We want you to come home.”

Spring shook her head fervently. “I’m not going without Rings. Her skills are the only reason we’ve survived so long on our own.”

“You wouldn’t have had to be alone if you hadn’t left.”

“We wouldn’t have had to leave if you weren’t going to smother me!” Rings exploded.

“Regardless,” Spring said, holding up her hands to calm everyone. “I’m not going anywhere, especially if it means leaving Rings.”

“If Rings is the condition, then…” Snow paused. “Of course… she is welcome to come home, too.”

“I’d rather throw myself off a cliff, thanks,” Rings replied scornfully.

“You’re being unreasonable,” Snow said, but Smoke cut him off.

“If you had no intention of returning with us, why did you contact us, Spring?” Smoke asked, ignoring Rings. “When we got your letter, we--”

“What, wait?” Rings said, and Spring looked like her heart was in her throat as her sister rounded on her. “What are they talking about? What letter?”

“I…” Spring gulped. “I… sent them a letter because I wanted them to know they had a grandson. I sent it ages ago, just after Candle was born, so I figured they either didn’t get it or didn’t care. I didn’t expect them to show up.”

“I can’t believe you!” Rings shouted. “How could you do that to me?”

“I didn’t do anything except tell them they had a grandchild!” Spring protested. “I thought they had a right to know!”

“ _They_ had a right?” Rings said, wrenching herself from my grasp and shooting to her feet. “These potential _murderers_ had a right?”

“That’s an oversimplification and a baseless accusation,” Smoke said.

“ _SHUT UP!_ ” Rings roared. “You were going to kill me! You thought I was weak and worthless! What do you think now, huh?” She slammed her fist onto the table, making everything on it jump. “Who’s weak now? Who’s worthless now?”

The shouting and banging had startled Ethrik, and he began to cry.

“Rings, please!” I said, standing to retrieve my son. I put him to my shoulder, bouncing him gently to calm him. When I turned, the look on Rings’ face made my heart drop. It was pain. Pure, searing pain.

“You know what? It’s fine. Spring and Candle can go back to live with my baby-killer parents, and Ebert can stay here with his brat, and I’ll move on by myself. I’ll go somewhere else. I’ll leave everyone to live their lives in peace, since I’m such a nuisance.”

“Rings, wait,” I said, but she turned and opened the door, running out into the curtain of rain.

“Shit,” I said in an undertone. “Reverence, take him for me.”

Reverence took Ethrik from my arms and I ran as best I could out of the door, following Rings.

“Rings, stop!” I called over the rain.

“Leave me alone!” Her shout muffled by the downpour.

“Wait a moment, will you! Stop being so dramatic! This isn’t like you!”

“What would you know?” She cried. “You don’t know anything! You think you’re so smart, but you’re just an idiot! You’re only with me because it’s convenient! Because I threw myself at you. If you had a better option, you’d drop me in a heartbeat and wouldn’t look back!”

“How could you say that?” I said, finally finding her crouched behind one of the closed merchant stalls. “I thought you knew me better than that!”

“I do know you!” She said, and I was shocked to see her sobbing into her knees. “You run! You run when things get hard. You run when you make mistakes. And I’m the biggest mistake you ever made!”

“You are not a mistake!” I told her.

“Yes, I am,” She wept. “Being born was a mistake. My sister leaving because of me was a mistake! Everything I’ve ever done has been a mistake!”

“Am I a mistake?” You asked her. “Is Spring? Is Reverence? We love you, you know that!”

"You have a son, and Spring has a son, and Reverence has a whole town who wait on her hand and hoof. Who do I have? No one! Nothing! I'm not important to anybody! I just exist to be used and thrown away when I'm not needed anymore!"

"Bullshit! You have me!” I exclaimed, taking Rings by the face. She tried to pull away, but I held her fast. “I left with you, didn't I? My son was here, and I loved him, but he didn't need me. You did. I went with you because I'm with you. I love my son, but loving him doesn't mean I love you less. You're both important to me. I wouldn't choose between you, but he’s safe and loved and protected here. You need me more than he does. Where you go, I will too. If you left tomorrow, I would go. Because I'm with you. I'm for you. Forever."

Rings dissolved into tears and cried so hard that she wasn’t able to speak. I sat on the wet ground and held her against me as the rain pelted us and let her weep. She curled up against me, clutched my tunic, and screamed. She screamed her rage and pain and betrayal into the thick wall of water that deafened the rest of the world to her agony.

I don’t know how much time passed, but as the rain eased, so did her tears and her grip on my shirt. Finally, she sat back, gulping, and looked at me.

“If you tell anyone I was crying, I’ll gut you,” She said.

I smiled and gently ran my fingers through the fur of her cheek. “Your secret is safe with me.”

“Promise?”

“Promise,” I replied.

“...do you…promised the other stuff, too?” She asked, sniffling.

“I more than promise,” I said. Taking my knife from my belt and a tiny vial from my pouch. I pricked my finger and let a drop of my blood drip into it, then did the same to hers. I stoppered the vial and flicked it, and it glowed red. Not brightly, but enough to shine a soft light.

“There,” I said, handing her the vial. “Now we’re bonded.”

“What, like we’re married or some shit?” She said, sneering.

“No,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “Bonded. It means we’ll always be a part of each other, whether its as lovers or friends or even enemies, we’ll always be in each other’s lives. It means I will never abandon you. And because you have it, you dictate what our relationship is. If you want us to be lovers, then we will be. If you don’t, then we won’t. Complete control.”

“I do like complete control,” She said, staring at the vial. “How do I know this isn’t just a vial of blood with glow powder in it and it’s not actually magic?”

“You don’t,” I said with a grin.

She shook her head and sighed. “I hate mages.”

I kissed her softly. She didn’t normally like those, but she leaned into it.

“Are you ready to go back into the lion’s den?” I asked.

“Yeah, I guess.” She hopped to her feet and watched as I struggled to get to mine, snickering. She was an ass. But I loved her, dammit.

Back at the house, we entered to find Spring shouting at her parents, and them withering under her fury.

“We’re not going with you!” She screamed at them. “We’re not running your shop! We don’t care about your money! We don’t want anything to do with you! I regret sending that damned letter! Get out!”

“But if you would--”

“ _GET OUT!_ ” She shrieked.

Snow and Smoke gathered their things, sneering at both of their daughters, and left.

“Whoa, sis, I’ve never seen you like that,” Rings said.

“I was fed up,” She said, fuming. “I’m sorry, Rings.”

“It’s fine,” Rings said, waving a hand. She looked at the table. “Doesn’t look like much of lunch got eaten.”

“No,” Said Reverence. “And it would be a shame to let it go to waste. Let’s sit back down. I’ve always enjoyed family dinners.”

“Yeah…” Rings said. “Me, too.”

I clutched her hand and we sat down at the table, talking and laughing and eating. This was the closest thing I’d ever had to a real family, and I had a feeling it was better than whatever my blood relations could have given me. And from the look on her face, I guessed Rings felt the same.


	4. To Lose, To Gain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another commission for @ocsmutpocalypse. As Reverence prepares to give birth to Ebert's child in the aftermath of an assassination attempt, Ebert questions both the concept of having a child of his own and the merit of staying in the village with a price on his head.

Ebert exhaled heavily with frustration. “Mrs. Tomlin, you _have_ to take the medicine I gave you. Making tea with daffodils is not going to cure your gastrointestinal problems.”

“What do you know, Mr. Big-City Doctor Man?” The skinny elderly woman snapped. “I’ve had tummy troubles all my life. Me Ma gave me this tea when I was a sprout every time I got a stomach-ache. It’s the only thing that soothes me and I’ve been drinking it for years. Explain that!”

“The tea is _why_ you have gastrointestinal problems!” Ebert snapped back at her. “Daffodils are toxic! You’re lucky to have survived this long, you stupid old skinbag!”

“I’m twice your age, boy!” She squawked, swinging a walking stick at him. “I don’t need your sass!”

“ _You_ called _me_ to treat you,” Ebert said, throwing things in to his medical bag. “If you’re not going to listen, then do me a favor and don’t call on me next time you’ve got a problem. Just drop dead and save me the walk.”

He exited her house and slammed the door behind him, huffing, as she was still shouting abuse from the inside. He hobbled as quickly as he could back to his isolated hut in the woods.

As he was shuffling, a neighbor called out, likely for more medical advice that wouldn’t be heeded.

“Is someone dying?” Ebert asked petulantly.

“Well, no,” The villager said.

“Then it can wait,” Ebert replied darkly, and continued on his way.

It had been about three or so months since Rings and Reverence had convinced him to be more active in the village. Most nights he stayed in Reverence’s house, sometimes with Rings and sometimes without. Rings was her own person and liked to do her own thing.

He still maintained his little cottage just outside the village, where he could keep all his medicinal and magecraft supplies safe and away from prying eyes and grasping fingers. He also used it, as pitiful as it sounded, to escape.

When he had first laid with Reverence, she was determined to become pregnant. She’d succeeded. The tiefling gestational period was extremely fast, even for half-breeds, and Reverence was due to give birth in just another week or two. Ebert hated to admit he’d been avoiding her, but his impending fatherhood scared the living daylights out of him.

He was barely into his twenties, but he never had any intention of marrying or fathering children. His own experiences with his family had turned him off to the thought. But Reverence had a way of getting what she wanted, so there was a baby on the way that would share his blood. His foolish, arrogant, misguided, depraved blood. Gods, this was a bad idea.

He got to the hut and opened the door. He half expected to see Buttons, but she was back at Reverence’s house, in her own fluffy bed and happily chasing the mice about. He took down the herbs he’d put up for drying the week before and made annotations in his journal about either making a spearmint and lime zest tea and telling her it was daffodils so she’d actually get better, or just not treating Mrs. Tomlin anymore. He couldn’t decide which would be less work, since he’d likely catch hell from Reverence if the old bat died.

He missed Rings. She would have made Mrs. Tomlin sit down and take her meds. But Rings was away hunting down intruders. As Ebert was a wanted man with quite the bounty on his head, there was no shortage of assassins willing to take up the job with no qualms about endangering the lives of an entire village.

Two such fellows had crashed into the village, demanding that Ebert show himself. One of the would-be killers was cut down almost immediately by the temple guards, and the second ran with Rings on his heels. She’d been gone about a week and had written back that her quarry had holed up in a cave. She was going to wait him out after having a bit of fun with him first. She was a cat, after all, and did like to toy with her victims.

Reverence had tried to put his mind at ease about the assassination attempt, telling him that the village had its protections and they all looked out for each other, but that had only exacerbated his anxiety and paranoia. It wasn’t just himself anymore. It wasn’t just his own well-being that was on the line. There was now an entire town of people, the two women he loved best, and a child of his own flesh and blood that were going to be caught in the crossfire of future attempts on his life.

Shit. Staying out of the village from the start would have been better for everyone.

At that moment, the window exploded inward and something sharp pierced his shoulder. He yelled in surprise and flung a fire spell reflexively out of the window, catching the drapes as it passed through the jagged hole in the glass.

“ _Fuck!_ ” He shouted, pulling the drapes down and dowsing them in a bucket of rainwater from the leaky roof. He grabbed his short sword and flung open the door, screaming, “Show yourselves, you fucking cowards!” He flung another ball of fire without looking, and heard a group of kids shriek. They shot out of the places they were hiding and high-tailed it down the trail back to the village. You recognized one or two of them as Reverence’s many children.

 _Damn it_ , Ebert thought to himself, trying to calm his breath. He was so jumpy that he nearly set a bunch of kids on fire and burned down his hut. _Some father I’ll make_ , he thought to himself. Not only were people out to hurt him, but he was as much a danger to himself and everyone around him as the assassins.

“I can’t do this,” Ebert said, laying his cane against the table, sitting down heavily, and letting his head fall into his hands. “I can’t be a father. I can’t stay here. They’ve found me. More will come. Everyone here is at risk if I stay.”

His heart rate had not slowed. If anything, it was intensifying to the point where he could feel it in every corner of his body. His mind began to dart back and forth between what had happened, what could happen, and what needed to happen. He couldn’t pin down his thoughts, and it increased his anxiety the longer he sat there. He could still feel the sharp thing in his shoulder, but couldn’t reach it to pull it out.

He stood abruptly, knocking over his chair, and began throwing things into a travel bag frenetically.

“Have to go,” Ebert muttered, stumbling around the hut and grabbing things, trying to stuff it all into the bag, growing more and more frustrated as the bag filled and wouldn’t close. The frustration grew to anger and he pounded the table with is fist so hard that he threw himself off-balance and landed in a corner, hitting his head.

Terrified, angry, and paranoid, he wept, hitting the back of his head against the wood of the the ramshackle cottage in a desperate attempt to focus his swirling, shifting, reaching brain, to no avail.

He just sat there and wept.

 

Reverence had just come out from a inspection of the Temple while the evening was still high. With all the… fluids… that get sprayed around the place, a regular cleaning was necessary. Twice weekly was the minimum, and Reverence always oversaw the maintenance and upkeep herself. It was a temple, after all. Fysy deserved a temple worthy of her splendor and purity, and the best way to insure it was to maintain it properly. That duty, among many, fell squarely on Reverence’s shoulders. Being pregnant was no reason to shirk her duties. This was her fourteenth child, after all, so it wasn’t as if she didn’t have experience in working around her precious cargo.

She touched her belly fondly. Fysy had given her certain special gifts, especially when it came to conception and birth. She always knew who was pregnant, even before they did. She knew which of the women were looking to get pregnant, and often paired them with the man best suited to give them the child they wanted. She knew the best time for a person to get pregnant, including herself, and could pinpoint the day the child would be born, and even the gender of the infant, including if they were agender, intersex, or nonbinary. She knew her own child, a son, would be born in four days time, sometime in the afternoon. Even though she knew when it was coming, the wait was always hard.

As she was inspecting the cut on the topiary, the shine on the statues, and the cleanliness of the guards’ armor, Reverence’s attention was caught by seven children, all similar in age, running from the woods as if the devil were on their heels. She saw two of her sons running among the herd.

“Herit! Kiata!” She called, and both boys slowed. One looked very much like his mother, with no eyes on his face but on the antlers growing above his head. The other boy looked more human, except that his feet were hooves and his eyes were the same shade as Reverence’s skin.

“Mama! Mama!” They called.

“What is it, dear ones?” She asked, holding out her arms to them. “What’s wrong?”

“The grumpy doctor man almost set us on fire!” Kiata exclaimed, showing her the singed fur on his tail.

“I see,” Reverence said, folding her arms. “And what exactly did you to do to make him set you on fire?”

“Nothing!” Kiata said petulantly.

Reverence looked at her other son. “Herit?”

Herit kicked his hoof and didn’t meet his mother’s eye. “Well… we kind of… threw a rock through his window?”

“Why would you do something like that?” She asked him in irritation.

“Because he’s weird!” Kiata said. “He always yells at us when we play, saying we’re making too much noise when he’s working!”

“I’ve told you, he’s very sensitive!” Reverence said, boxing the little boy’s ear. “He’s been through a lot of terrible things, Kiata! He’s afraid and worried! Remember that pet rabbit you had that was always scared and skittish, and you didn’t realize why until the fox got him one night? Our ‘grumpy doctor man’ is just like that little rabbit. There are foxes looking for him, and all you’ve done is made him more scared and skittish.”

Kiata dropped his gaze. “I’m sorry, Mama.”

“I’m not the one you should apologize to,” she said, releasing him. “I’m going to go up and talk to him and tomorrow you’ll give him a proper apology, you and your friends. Now, Kiata, get home to your mother. Herit, your father has been looking for you. I suggest the both of you tell your parents what you’ve done and stay home the rest of the day. Am I clear?”

“Yes, Mama,” They said in unison.

“Good. Go.”

The two took off to their respective homes, and Reverence sighed. She could only imagine the state Ebert was in right now. She stretched, cracking her back, and started up the trail to the cottage.

When the cottage came into view, there were indeed some singed spots on the ground and a broken window. She sighed. This was going to require more than a contrite apology.

She knocked on the door. “Ebert?”

“Go away!” He responded.

“Ebert, let me in,” She said.

“Who is it?!” He asked.

“The mother of your child,” She called back calmly.

“That doesn’t make me feel better!” He shrieked.

She sighed an folded her arms across her chest. “I can let myself in, you know. I knocked out of courtesy.”

“Then let yourself in!”

She uncrossed her arms and flicked the door with her middle finger, which made the bolt move out of place with a _clunk!_ She pushed the door open to find him crouching in a corner, facing the wall, his arms covering his head in a defensive posture.

“Ebert, love,” She said, coming to kneel next to him without touching. “It’s alright. You’re safe.”

“I’m not safe!” He said. “Could you just pull the arrow out?”

She frowned, her many eyes searching him. “Arrow?”

“Something came through the window and pierced me. It’s in my shoulder. It hurts like a son of a bitch. Pull it out, will you?”

Her search of him revealed no arrow, but there was a sizeable shard of glass from the window lodged in his back. She grasped it and pulled it out, after which blood began to pour freely over his muslin shirt.

“Oh dear,” She said, tugging at his shirt. “Remove your shirt, if you please.”

“Reverence, I’m really not in the mood for that right now,” He said, trying to reach the wound himself.

“I wasn’t suggesting that,” She replied patiently, showing him the shard of glass. “You’re bleeding rather badly. I’m afraid you need stitches.”

“What do you know of medical care?” He asked her curiously.

“Who do you think did it all before you came here, sir?” She asked sniffily as she carefully helped him pull the shirt off and directed him to lie face down on the bed, which hadn’t been slept in in some time.

“Are you saying you did?” He asked a little incredulous.

“You think my only duties are love-making and creating children for Fysy’s glory”

“Isn’t it?”

She popped his behind, making him jump. “Of course not. Priestess is a parent term for all sorts of little jobs we have to do. We’re doctors, counselors, handmaids, mediators, justice of the peace, and so on. ‘Priestess’ is just another word for a person who has far too much to do and not enough hours in the day.”

“Am I a priestess, then?” He joked.

“You don’t have the patience,” She said snidely.

“I’m a _doctor_ ,” he protested.

“My point exactly,” she retorted.

He huffed a laugh. “Strange. I used to do my damnedest to stay far away from religious types.”

“Strange indeed,” She said, swabbing the cut with an antibacterial salve. “Since one of the women you love is a religious type.” She paused. “Unless your feelings on that matter has changed?”

He looked back at her, frowning. “No, Reverence, of course not. You know I love you. That’s not changed.”

She chuckled. “Just making sure.”

Stitching him up took no time at all, but there was no way to salvage his shirt, so she threw it in the fire, which caused Ebert to make a choking sound, and pulled another out of the drawer while he sat up, gingerly putting weight on the injured side.

This was the first time he was able to see her belly clearly. His chest tightened with anxiety and his stomach clenched.

Having a dozen eyes had its benefits, so she could see his obvious discomfort at the sight of her heavily pregnant self.

“You’ve been avoiding me since I started showing,” she said simply, turning him to clean his shoulder properly and apply a bandage. “And you’ve delivered over half a dozen children since you’ve been living here. It shouldn’t shock you to see another pregnant woman.”

“The others weren’t carrying my kid,” He said, gulping.

She helped him put the new shirt back on and looked at him shrewdly. “Does the idea of fatherhood scare you that badly?”

He sighed. “I’ve told you, Reverence. A person like me isn’t… designed to be a father. You said it yourself: I don’t have the patience. To be honest, none of my family should have had children. Our line should have ended eons ago. I shouldn’t even exist. The fact that I, as someone who shouldn’t exist, has created a progeny, a further life that shouldn’t exist, is…” He gripped his already disheveled hair in frustration. “It’s distressing.”

“I’ve already told you that your involvement is not required, if that is what’s troubling you,” She said. “I have decided to raise this child alone. Before you came here, whenever I became pregnant, or impregnated another, I chose parents I knew would be willing to do the bulk of the child-rearing themselves so that I may continue my work as a priestess unhindered, but when I conceived with you, I knew the circumstances would be different, and I was content with that. I thought I made that clear to you.”

“That’s not the problem,” He replied, shaking his head.

“Then what is, my dear?” She took his face in her hands. “What has you looking so burdened?”

He stared at her eye-less face with disbelief. “Does it not bother you that hired killers came into this village, looking to kill me and not worried about who they might hurt in order to do so? Do you not think they might also seek to harm anyone I hold precious to me? Anyone with even a small connection to me is in great peril. Every person in this town is in danger if I stay! They’re in danger if I go! Any person who comes into contact with me has reason to fear for their lives!” He jumped off the bed and started pacing. “You are the leader of this community. Doesn’t the fact that I’m an outcast with a bounty on my head bother you at all?”

To his absolute fury, Reverence began to snicker.

“Really, I can’t imagine what’s so funny about this,” He said with agitation.

“Oh, I can,” She said. “You think I don’t have a price on my head? Do you have any idea how many people in this village are wanted persons for one reason or another?”

This shocked him into silence. “Are you… are you serious?”

She nodded, a smirk on her face. “Ebert, you are living in a village of outcasts. The worship of Fysy is illegal in my native country, which is why I fled and came here. The religious leader before me was a thief in his former life. Mrs. Tomlin, the stubborn woman who drinks daffodil tea, used to embezzle money from rich men while posing as a maid. We all have similar stories, all of which you’d know, if you’d bothered to get to know anyone here.”

“So…” Ebert said, trying to understand. “You just let any old criminal into this village with no thought to the consequences?”

“You’re one to talk, Mr. Necromancer,” Reverence said, and Ebert blanched. “Oh yes, don’t think I wasn’t aware of that. Having so many eyes allows me to see the truth of a person. I have a standard, of course; I don’t allow abusers or rapists or killers into our midst. We have enough trouble from the outside world to worry about without bringing trouble into the community. No one violent or depraved is allowed within our walls.”

“We don’t have walls,” Ebert said weakly.

“You know what I mean,” Reverence said wryly. “We have all made mistakes, Ebert. We are all misfits. And the best place for misfits is with other misfits.” She kissed him. “That’s why I’m not worried. We all come with danger. We all come with a past. It changes nothing.”

“Doesn’t it?” He asked. For the very first time, he reached out and touched her stomach with his fingertips.

“No,” She said. “Nothing at all. We will live as we always have, looking out for each other. And you are one of us now. And so is your son.”

He looked up at her, wide-eyed. “…son?”

“Yes,” She said with a smile. “By the way, you’ll need to make yourself available four afternoons from now.”

The birth was easy enough. Ebert had been staying with Reverence, and therefore was present when she went into labor. She informed him that her water broke as if commenting on a passing bird. Stuffing down his panic, he helped her to deliver a tiny but healthy baby boy, just as she had said.

Reverence delivered the baby into her own hands while Ebert helped her push the little thing out. Ebert then helped her clean him and wrap him in a small blanket. She offered to let him hold the boy, but Ebert didn’t think he was ready for that just yet. Buttons jumped up, sniffed the baby’s head, and wandered off indifferently.

“What would you have us name him?” Reverence asked.

“Oh gods,” Ebert said. “I hadn’t even given it a thought.”

“Can you think of nothing?” She asked. “I’ve either ‘fathered’ or given birth to twenty-two children before this one, and I’ve named them all. It’s someone else’s turn.”

“Well…” Ebert said thoughtfully. “I did have an uncle named Ethrik. He was the only person in my family that I didn’t have an immense contempt for. In fact, I could even say he was the only decent man in my family I ever knew.”

“Ethrik, then,” Reverence said. “Little Ethrik.”

Rings returned a week after the birth, and showed about as much interest as Buttons had. You were happy to have her back.

“Got him?” You asked her.

“Got him,” She said triumphantly. “Actually, it’s got me thinking: I know you just had a kid and all, but how would you feel about traveling with me for a while?”


	5. A Day Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With a festival coming up, Reverence is overworked. Ebert and Rings devised a plan to give her some time off and much needed rest and relaxation.

The Festival of Bounty was a few weeks away and was Fysy’s most important holiday, aside from Fysy’s Benevolence, which was in spring. It represented not just a fruitfulness of the harvest and of children, but also a deeper understanding of one’s heart, soul, and spirit. A sowing of the inner self and a harvest of spiritual awareness, so to speak.

In fact, on the day itself, it was common practice to abstain from any sexual release in order for the next “seeding” to be that much more potent when planted. Some often chose to wait the whole month prior to the celebrations. Since the harvest festival took place on the first day of autumn, it wasn’t uncommon for there to be a slew of births at the end of spring the following year.

Reverence was the town’s leader, of course, but for the most part, the town ran itself. Very little supervision was needed beyond the odd bar tussle. People governed themselves, and arguments that couldn’t be settled between the parties involved were brought to Reverence and a select council of trusted townspeople. Otherwise, Reverence kept to the temple.

The festivals were the only times she was one hundred percent in charge, and Ebert had never seen her this… frazzled. Between decorations, food, preparing the sermon for the evening, writing the blessing for the feast, planning children’s activities, and coordinating the dancers and musicians, Reverence was looking a little… fried.

“No, no, no,” She said, waving at one of the four people surrounding her with different things. “Harvest colors! Orange, deep red, dark greens. Bright colors are for spring. Just like always, Tera.”

“I’m just saying, we should put a pop of color in the decor!” Tera was saying, talking over the other three vying for Reverence’s attention. “Harvest colors are so dull and drab. Just a little bit of pink would liven it up.”

“Tera,” Reverence said dangerously. “Harvest colors. I’m tired having this argument every year. If you can’t follow the directions, I’ll put someone else in charge. Traditions are traditions for a reason.”

Tera stormed off with a groan, and another person took her place with another issue that needed addressing _right fucking now_ , apparently. Ebert and Rings were sitting on the porch of Reverence’s house, drinking tea and watching all of this happen.

“Is it always like this?” Ebert asked. He’d only been a member of the town for a little over a year, and had been gone with Rings during last year’s festivals, both Bounty and Benevolence.

“Oh, you should have been here three years ago,” Rings replied, watching it all with an air of enjoying the show. “I thought she was literally, _literally_ , going to unhinge her jaw and bite Tera’s head off.”

“Oh, I’d pay to see that,” Ebert joked, sipping from his teacup. “Tera keeps telling me I dress like a hobo.”

“You do dress like a hobo,” Rings replied, eating a slice of cured sausage.

“True, but she does it really need to be said aloud?”

Rings snickered.

Ethrik was at Ebert’s feet, playing with a toy centaur and babbling in his baby tongue, oblivious to the tension in the air emanating like the waves of an angry tide from his mother. Ebert had spent a lot of time with Ethrik since he had been home, forming a very strong bond with his son.

“You have plenty of money now,” Rings continued. “Why don’t you just buy new clothes?”

“I dislike merchants,” Ebert said, watching Reverence sighed in aggravation when another person handed her some papers to go over. “They don’t care if it actually fits or looks good, they’re just trying to make a profit. And tailors are worse. They fuss about fabrics and embellishments. Pfft. It’s too much hassle. I always buy my clothes secondhand. It may not be pretty, but it keeps me warm and I’m not naked, which is good enough for me, so it should be good enough for everyone. A rag on a string is better than having my business out on full display.”

“Rag on a string, you say?” Rings said, looking at Ebert with a distant expression and smirking.

“Don’t start with me, it’s too early,” Ebert said.

“It’s evening!”

“Any time of the day is too early to deal with your shit, Rings,” Ebert quipped.

“You like it,” She replied, grinning so that every single one of her sharp teeth were visible.

“Why don’t you help her?” Ebert said, watching Reverence rub her temples in exasperation.

“Pfft,” Rings scoffed. “Do I look like the event planner type? I wouldn’t even go to this thing if it wasn’t for the free food. I’m not exactly the religious type, if you hadn’t figured it out yet.”

“Neither am I,” Ebert replied. “But she is our lover. We should do something to help her.”

“So why don’t you help her?” She asked snidely.

“I’m watching Ethrik,” Ebert said with a sniff.

“Yeah, literally anyone in town could do that. He’s the town’s kid as much as he is yours.”

Ebert snorted and picked up his son, who squealed happily. “Yes, perhaps, but I _want_ to watch him. I’ve grown rather fond of the little thing, oddly enough.”

Ebert meant that, too. It wasn’t typical of his family to form attachments, most especially to other family. So his affection for his son was something he hadn’t expected to happen, and he was rather surprised and delighted by it.

“Bleh,” Rings retorted, sticking out her tongue in disgust. “If I ever say I want kids, put me in the nut house because I’ve gone crazy.”

“They’re not so bad,” Ebert said, holding his son up high and making fart noises. Ethrik giggled happily.

“Says the person who’ll never know the misery of carrying one of the little crotch goblins in his body,” Rings said.

“Yeah, yeah,” Ebert said, nose-nuzzling Ethrik and sitting the little boy in his lap. “Still, I feel like we should do something for Reverence, even if it’s not helping with the festival. Has she ever had a massage? Like, a real one, not just one that led directly to sex?”

“How would I know?” Rings said, picking her teeth.

“Do you pay attention to anything that doesn’t involve you directly?” Ebert asked sardonically.

“Should I?”

Ebert shook his head. “You’re a jewel, Rings.”

She smiled. “I know,” She said in a sing-song voice.

“But really. I think I may have Spring take Ethrik tonight. Reverence needs some kind of help. Help that doesn’t involve dealing with… them.” He pointed at the gaggle of people surrounding Reverence as she walked back to the temple.

“A day off would be nice,” Rings said. “We could lie and tell people she’s sick tomorrow.”

“That’s a good idea,” Ebert said. “Spend the day pampering her. I should buy a few things, if that’s the case.”

“You do that, I’ll clean up the house a bit,” Rings said.

“Look at you, doing something nice,” Ebert said, picking up Ethrik’s bag and his cane with one hand.

“Meh. Don’t get used to it.” Rings disappeared into the house and Ebert went to see Spring about sitting Ethrik for a couple of days.

Reverence came back to her home later that night and collapsed onto the bed face-down.

“I love this town, I really do,” She said, muffled by the bedding. “But it’s times like these that make me want to dig a hole and hide in it for the rest of the month.”

Ebert smirked. “Trust me, both Rings and I totally understand that.”

“Hell, Spring, Ebert, and you are the only reason I stay in this town at all,” Rings said.

Reverence was so exhausted that she hadn’t noticed the candles, incense, and the mulled wine stacked on the table. Ebert had bought massage oils, lotions, hoof polish, the works. He and Rings were planning a day of pampering Reverence had never experienced before.

“Are you hungry, love?” Ebert asked.

“Not especially,” Reverence mumbled. “Where’s Ethrik?”

“Staying with my sister tonight,” Rings replied.

“Oh, good,” She said, her many eyes closed. “I want to sleep for a week.”

Ebert and Rings crawled into bed with her. “Sleep then,” Ebert said. “Tomorrow will be brighter. You’ll see.”

“If you say so,” She said, already half-asleep. But the time Rings and Ebert got comfortable, Reverence’s breathing was slow and even, and she was dead to the world.

The next morning, the three of them awoke to banging on the door. Reverence groaned and made to get up, but Rings stopped her.

“I got this, you rest,” She said. She went to the door and opened it, facing the crowd of people needing Reverence’s stamp of approval. “Listen up, you leeches. Reverence is sick. She’s staying in bed today. If any of you try and bother her while she’s resting, I will personally bite your dick off. Or whatever you’ve got that would hurt a lot. Now fuck off!” And with that, she slammed the door.

“What?” Reverence said, sitting up. “I’m not sick--”

Ebert covered her mouth. “Shh! Not so loud. We’re buying you a day off.”

Reverence removed his hand. “A day off?”

“Yes,” Rings said as she made her way back to the bed. “We got candles and food and wine and oils and rosewater and we are going to spoil the shit out of you today.”

“Part of me knows I should go out there and do my job,” Reverence said, rubbing her neck. “But, by Fysy, that sounds amazing. How can I say no?”

“Don’t,” Ebert said, bending forward to kiss her. Rings ran her claws gently up and down Reverence’s back, making her shiver.

“So what did you have planned?” Reverence asked.

“Spa day,” Rings said, kneading Reverence’s shoulders. “Ebert and I are going to wash you, then he is going to massage oils into your skin while I wash your hair and file your hooves for you.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Reverence moaned.

“Then when your dry and smooth, I’m thinking naked breakfast in bed and lounging for a while.” Ebert said.

“Lounging sounds incredible,” She sighed.

“Well, you lay here and stay comfortable and I’ll heat some water for your bath,” Ebert said. “Rings, keep her warm.”

“Happily,” Rings said, kissing down Reverence’s neck.

“Hey, don’t get ahead of yourselves,” Ebert said, moving the cauldron of water over the fire. “We’ve got all day to enjoy each other.”

“Spoilsport,” Rings said, rubbing up and down on Reverence’s torso as Reverence snugged in deeper to the bed, enjoying the attention.

After water was heated and transferred into the tub, Reverence climbed into the water, moaning with deep satisfaction as the hot water unknotted the muscles in her body.

“Feel good?”

“Mmmm,” Was all she could manage to say. Ebert got the scented soap and scrubbed her body down gently as Rings carefully washed Reverence’s face and antlers, careful not to get soap in her many eyes. Once she was clean, Rings and Ebert let her soak a little longer while they set up breakfast and the massage area. There was a wide bench she could lay on as Ebert worked on her body, and she could hang her head down for Rings to wash her hair.

Once everything was ready, Rings and Ebert helped Reverence out of the tub and onto the bench, laying her on her back with her head over the end.

Rings took a bottle of sweet smelling hair rinse that had melon oils and honeysuckle dew, and drew it carefully through Reverence’s thick hair. Ebert took a bottle of sweet almond oil and lathered his hands up, starting at Reverences ankles and working his way up slowly. Reverence groaned and whimpered appreciatively as he worked up over her calves, her thighs, and her hips while purposefully ignoring between her legs. They’d get to that later.

He rubbed the oils into her belly and breasts, over her shoulders, and down her arms to her hands, working the oils into her skin.

“Rings, are you finished with her hair?” Ebert asked.

“I’ve just finished combing it out,” She said.

“Good. Reverence, can you turn over?”

“I’ll try,” She said, smiling a little.

Ebert and Rings helped her stand, and then lay back down on her stomach.

“Rings, you start at the bottom, I’ll come down from the top, and we’ll meet in the middle.”

Rings nodded and dripped some oils into her hands. Minutes turned to hours, and the three of them were lost in the motion of the hands moving along skin.

When the oil was well worked into the skin, Ebert took a towel and dried her while Rings helped her sit up.

Apparently, the massage had done much to improve her mood, because when she got up, her phallus was standing straight up. Rings began to stroke it as she gently patted Reverence’s hair with a towel.

“Let’s move to the bed,” Ebert suggested.

“Good idea,” Rings agreed. Rings and Ebert both took one of Reverence’s hands and lay her down on the bed. She stretched out and looked up at the two of them with a smile. Rings stripped off her clothes and undressed Ebert as well, and the two of them got on the bed. Rings took Reverence’s member in her mouth while Ebert opened Reverence’s legs and pressed his lips to the slit underneath. Reverence’s breath hitched and she moaned blissfully.

Ebert pressed two fingers inside her and kissed her thighs, nipping with his teeth and massaging with his free hand.

“Oh, gods, I could get used to this,” She breathed. “Usually as priestess of Fysy, it’s my job to make sure my patrons are well satisfied even if I am not, but I’ve never had this kind of attention before. It’s intoxicating.”

“Considering how much you give of yourself to this town, you’re well overdue for some worship yourself,” Ebert said.

“That almost sounds blasphemous,” Reverence said with a smirk.

“I guess we’re all sinners today,” Rings said, her tongue playing with the tip of Reverence’s length.

“Fysy is a forgiving goddess, thankfully,” Reverence laughed.

“Good,” Rings said as she pulled herself up and swung a leg over Reverence’s body, nearly kicking Ebert in the face, and straddled Reverence’s waist. “We’re going to make you feel like you’ve transcended and reached godhood yourself.”

Reverence grabbed Rings’ hips as she slowly lowered herself down onto Reverence’s cock, gasping as she was stretched open. Ebert moved around to suck at Reverences breasts, still continuing to move his fingers in and out of her.

Rings and Reverence were moaning and breathing hard, Rings bouncing faster against Reverence’s body. Reverence reached down and took Ebert’s length in her hand, stroking it slowly.

“Rings,” Reverence gasped. “Lean forward a little, give Ebert some room.”

Rings nodded and complied wordlessly, and Ebert took his place between Reverence’s legs, easing his cock inside her as Rings rode Reverence hard.

“Match Rings,” Reverence groaned. Ebert had no time to work up to it, instead he rammed himself into Reverence at the same frenetic pace that Rings was thrusting down upon her, matching the rhythm. It was intense and mind-blowing, and the three of them were making more noise than they had intended, but it couldn’t be helped. They were in a primal state, unable to stop.

“Oh, fuck,” Rings hissed. “I’m going to cum.”

“So am I,” Reverence breathed. “Unless you want to get pregnant, you better hop off.”

Rings jumped off like Reverence had the plague, and Ebert stroked Reverence until she came with Rings rubbing herself to completion next to her.

Ebert slowed to a stop as Reverence was coming down.

“Didn’t you finish?” Reverence asked.

“No,” Ebert said, cleaning her up. “But I’m not worried. We have all day after all.”

Now came breakfast in bed, naked, and it was wonderful. Reverence was relaxed and laughing for the first time in weeks. Ebert was happy to see the smile on her face. The three of them lay on the bed, eating and talking, when another knock at the door startled them.

“I’ll handle it,” Ebert said. He pulled on his trousers and a shirt and opened the door a crack. Tera stood there, looking incensed.

“I need to talk to Reverence,” She said.

“Reverence isn’t feeling well and is taking the day off. Whatever it is, it can wait until tomorrow,” Ebert said.

“Please, I know she’s not sick! I could hear you, you know! Half the town could! She’s avoiding me.”

“Yes, and she has a good reason to, doesn’t she?” Ebert said, coming out and shutting the door. “She has told you over and over how to do it, and you keep ignoring her. Why exactly is that?”

“Because she won’t listen to reason!” Tera said. “Harvest colors are boring! It’s the same thing every year! Why not change it up a little!”

“I don’t give a shit if it’s boring, Tera!” Ebert said. “No one does, except you! Do it the way you were told and shut the fuck up! Leave Reverence alone, or I swear to god, I will curse your hands so that everything you touch turns shit brown, you understand me?”

Tera looked both pissed and scared. She turned on her heel and walked away quick-step.Sighing and rolling his eyes, Ebert went back into the house.

“All good?” Reverence asked.

“Yep,” Ebert said, returning to the bed and kissing Reverence deeply. “You won’t have to worry about Tera anymore. This year, at least.”

Reverence laughed in relief. “That’s a miracle. Now if you could do that with everyone else.”

“Sorry, I can only threaten to curse so many people before they start calling me on it,” Ebert replied, smiling.

They took a nap together, then ate a leisurely lunch. The house smelled of flowers and fruit and fresh bread. The three of them talked about anything and everything. It was strange, as if the cottage had been enclosed in a bubble and that the three of them were the only one in existence at that time. It was an odd bonding experience that the three of them had never felt before. More intimate than sex could ever have been.

As evening fell, the three of them were relaxed and content. Reverence was stroking Ebert to attention again, and Rings was kissing Ebert’s chest.

“What’s this, all of a sudden?” Ebert said, curious, but not complaining.

“I want to thank the two of you for my nice day off,” Reverence said, poking Ebert onto his back and straddling him. She thrust him into her with a gasp, and bent down to kiss him. She then pulled Rings to her with Rings’ back to her front. As she moved back and forth, her length thrust in and out between Rings’ legs, rubbing her pearl with each motion.

“Oh gods,” Ebert groaned.  

It didn’t take long for all three of them to be a moaning mess again. Rings came first, snarling and spitting, then Ebert inside of Reverence. Reverence came last all over Ebert’s stomach and chest. The three of them collapsed on top of each other, heedless of the mess they’d made.

“I think I need another bath,” Reverence breathed, and the three of them laughed.

The festival went off without a hitch. The whole day was a testament to Reverence’s patience and even-temper. The children had a blast, the food was amazing, and the games for the adults had everyone rolling in laughter.

Reverence led the dancers that evening, moving like a gazelle across the stage that had been built. They dances were swift and full of color and vivaciousness. It amazed Ebert that she could move like that without smacking someone with her antlers, but she did it like she been doing it her whole life. That may have been the case.

That evening, after the dancing and before the great feast, Reverence stood at the top step of the temple and asked for quiet.

“The first day of harvest is a day of contemplation. It is a day to take in all the glory that Fysy has bestowed upon us. Blessings of food, fortune, health, and of course, the next generation.” She looked fondly at all the children seated at the great table with their parents, lingering over Ethrik in Ebert’s lap. “Today we give thanks as we reap the benefits of her love and tenderness. From her, we exist. For her, we thrive. Without her, we  despair and die. We are fortunate and grateful. Humbled, I would ask for a moment of silence, so that we may all contemplate our own blessings received in this past year and thank the one who gave them to us.”

Ebert knew she meant Fysy, but really, the people who gave him his blessings was the glorious woman standing gracefully at the base of the temple, and the firey woman sitting next to him, already picking from the tray in front of her. And the little boy in his lap, who taught him what is was to love.

“Now, let us take into ourselves the bounty. Let the Feast of Fysy begin!”

There was cheering from the crowd, and a lot of noise as everyone filled their plates. Reverence came to sit on Ebert’s other side and took Ethrik from him.

“This festival has actually run much more smoothly than the ones before,” She remarked.

“I wonder why,” Ebert said. “Maybe that day off helped clear your head.”

“I have no doubt it did,” She replied. “Remind me to schedule one during every festival’s preparation.”

Rings and Ebert laughed.

At the end of the festival, there were fireworks. Ethrik was delighted by them and laughed hysterically with each big _BOOM!_ With Rings on his left side, Reverence on his right, and his son in his lap, it really did feel like a family. A real family, something Ebert had never had.

He took Rings’ hand, rested his head on Reverence’s shoulder, and smiled. “Reverence?” He asked.

“Hmm?” She answered.

“How would you feel about making a little sister for Ethrik?”

He could feel her smile. “Tonight? Midnight?”

“Sounds great to me.”

“Urgh,” Rings said. “I’m staying with Spring tonight.”

“Take Ethrik with you. We might be at it for a few days,” Ebert said.

“In that case, I’ll drop off the kid and go one town over. There’s a girl there who looks like she needs learning in the ways of Fysy.”

“You’re not religious,” Ebert said snidely.

“I am when it suits me,” Rings said. “And I think she’ll suit me nicely.”

Reverence was pregnant before the end of the month. This time, Ebert was ecstatic and couldn’t wait for the birth.

“Calm down, Ebert,” She told him when he learned she was pregnant. “I’ve done this a dozen times by now.”

“I know, but this is only my second, and I was scared shitless for the first one.”

“You’re not scared this time?” Reverence asked.

“Oh, gods, I’m terrified. But I know I can be a good dad now, and I can’t wait for Ethrik to have a sibling who will actually love him.”

“Ethrik has many siblings, Ebert,” Reverence reminded him.

“I know… but… this feels different for me,” Ebert said. “My family might as well have been complete strangers. I’ve never felt what having a real family is like. It’s… amazing.”

Reverence hugged him. “Oh, Ebert. I’m so glad you’ve come here. Family is so important and I’m glad you found it here.”

Rings was there, watching the two of them distantly, until Ebert snatched her up and pulled her into the hug too.

Buttons looked over the scene from her perch on a wardrobe and yawned.


End file.
